Tear up these farcical foreign aid rules

AFTER countless stories of waste, mismanagement and corruption, it seemed as if there was nothing about Britain’s bloated foreign aid budget which had the capacity to shock.

But now we learn that not one penny of the £13billion (and rising) pot can be used to help Anguilla, Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands which were devastated by Hurricane Irma.

The reason? When David Cameron set the target of spending 0.7 per cent of national income – an act of gross fiscal negligence – he signed up to byzantine rules laid down by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Perversely, OECD diktats mean Britain’s overseas territories do not qualify for aid because... they are too rich.

To the thousands left without power or water, whose homes and communities have been decimated by 180mph winds, that will feel like a sick joke.

They might not have been in dire poverty before the storm hit, but surely they are now, after losing everything?

It is bad enough that taxpayers’ money is hurled at economic powerhouses like India and China, at corrupt regimes, and on pointless programmes, while our public services are starved of cash.

But it is immeasurably worse when a truly deserving cause comes along, and ministers have to raid cash from other budgets or further inflate our country’s debts.

These mindless rules betray people who, while not living in the UK, are loyal subjects of the Queen. Yes, No10 wants to change the rules, but that could take years.

Far better would be for ministers to damn the consequences, tear up the rules and spend the money on our people who are in desperate need. The OECD might not applaud, but the public surely would.